Chapter 594: Testing the New Numbers

Ashe declared the rest day before anyone else could suggest pretending they did not need one.

Nobody argued.

That alone told Vane how tired they actually were.

"We’ve all changed rank since the last time we properly tested against each other," Ashe said, stretching one shoulder across her chest with the solemnity of someone presenting a battlefield plan. "I’d rather learn what that means here than halfway through a fight where being surprised gets someone killed."

Nyx sat cross-legged beside the dead fire.

"Wonderful."

She stretched her arms overhead.

"Violence as a bonding exercise. My favorite tradition."

Ashe looked at her.

"You say that every time."

"Because it’s true every time."

"You also enjoy yourself every time."

Nyx shrugged.

"I contain contradictions. It’s part of my charm."

Mara had already opened her ledger.

Charcoal in hand.

"I’ll score."

Valerica looked over.

"Absolutely not."

Mara paused.

"Why?"

"Because last time there was no coherent scoring system."

"There was."

"You awarded Ashe three points for ’dramatic recovery.’"

"She recovered dramatically."

"You gave Nyx negative two for sarcasm."

"Excessive sarcasm."

Nyx looked offended.

"No such thing."

Mara returned to her ledger.

"Same rules as last time."

Valerica stared.

"There were no rules last time. You wrote down whatever you wanted and called it official."

Mara nodded.

"That’s the rule."

Valerica opened her mouth.

Then closed it.

Vane smiled.

Mara had once again won by being impossible to argue with.

Valerica and Ashe went first.

The change became obvious almost immediately.

Ashe attacked the way she always did—clean pressure, measured aggression, every movement carrying more weight than its speed suggested.

Valerica slipped the first strike.

Then the second.

The third never fully formed because Valerica had already moved into the space Ashe intended to use.

Ashe stopped.

"Hm."

Valerica smiled faintly.

"Problem?"

"You’re annoying now."

"I was annoying before."

"Different kind."

They reset.

The next exchange lasted longer.

Valerica was not faster in any obvious sense.

She simply wasted less.

Her attention followed Ashe’s shoulders, hips, breathing, the minute changes in posture that existed before commitment.

She moved early enough to look fast.

Ashe adapted.

Her rhythm changed.

Feints appeared where there had been certainty.

She shortened one strike, delayed another, then stepped into a third from an angle Valerica had not expected.

Valerica barely avoided it.

"Better," Ashe said.

Valerica exhaled.

"You sound pleased."

"I am."

"You almost hit me."

"Exactly."

The fourth exchange ended with both of them stopping at nearly the same time.

Ashe’s fist hovered near Valerica’s ribs.

Valerica’s hand rested just beneath Ashe’s guard.

Neither had the cleaner finish.

Ashe stepped back, breathing harder now.

"You got faster."

Valerica shook her head.

"More patient."

Ashe raised an eyebrow.

"That’s your explanation?"

"Yes."

Valerica adjusted her stance.

"People confuse patience with speed. If you stop wasting time deciding, the answer arrives earlier."

Ashe stared at her.

"That is an unbearable thing to say while we’re fighting."

Valerica smiled.

"I contain multitudes."

Mara’s charcoal moved immediately.

"Point to Valerica."

Valerica looked toward her.

"For what?"

"Using ’multitudes’ unironically during combat."

"That is not a scoring category."

Mara did not look up.

"Everything is a scoring category if I write it down first."

Valerica rubbed her forehead.

No one challenged the ruling.

Isole and Nyx went next.

It became obvious within thirty seconds that they had entirely different ideas about what sparring meant.

Isole pressed forward with both currents active.

Gold and dark moved deeper than Vane had ever seen her allow during practice.

Controlled.

Confident.

No reserve held solely because she feared needing one.

Nyx avoided almost everything.

Effortlessly.

She leaned away from one strike, stepped around another, and appeared behind Isole without touching her.

Isole turned.

Nyx smiled.

They continued.

Three exchanges later, Isole stopped.

"You aren’t trying."

Nyx looked genuinely confused.

"I am."

"You’ve had four openings."

"I know."

"And used none of them."

"Correct."

Isole stared.

Nyx spread her hands.

"I’m trying exactly as hard as the situation requires."

"And the situation requires you to lose?"

"The situation requires me not to end up in your medical care explaining why I injured myself sparring against the healer."

"That isn’t how sparring works."

"It is how mine works."

Nyx stepped backward.

"I have accepted my role as the least competitive person here."

Valerica called from the side.

"You are visibly the second most competitive person in this party."

Nyx turned.

"Slander."

"After Ashe," Valerica added. "And the gap is enormous."

"Defamation."

Isole moved while Nyx was distracted.

A dark current hooked her balance.

Gold pressure followed.

Nyx landed flat on her back.

She remained there.

Isole looked down.

"You let that happen."

Nyx stared at the sky.

"I prefer to think I chose peace."

Mara wrote.

"Point to Isole."

Nyx lifted one finger.

"Under protest."

"Recorded."

"You’re not actually recording the protest."

"I am now."

Vane went last.

Against all four of them.

One at a time.

Careful rotations.

Enough pressure to test the changes without turning the morning into actual injury.

Ashe made him work hardest physically.

Valerica made him work hardest mentally.

Isole forced him to respect spaces he once would have treated as safe.

Nyx made him feel like every plan had been overheard before he thought of it.

Halfway through his second exchange with Ashe, he started laughing.

Ashe’s fist stopped a breath from his face.

"What?"

Vane reset his stance.

"Nothing."

"You’re laughing."

"I noticed."

"Why?"

Vane looked around.

Valerica sat drinking water.

Isole was adjusting a bandage around one wrist despite insisting she was fine.

Nyx had somehow acquired Mara’s charcoal and was trying to add something to the scoring ledger while Mara fought her for it.

He looked back at Ashe.

"A year ago, this would’ve been the most dangerous morning of my life."

Ashe smiled.

"And now?"

"Now it’s Tuesday."

"It is Tuesday," Mara said immediately.

Everyone turned.

She had recovered her charcoal.

Vane sighed.

"That isn’t what I meant."

"I know."

Mara returned to writing.

"I just like confirming things when I can."

Nyx nodded.

"Excellent principle."

Ashe raised her guard again.

"You done being sentimental?"

"Probably."

"Good."

She hit him.

Not hard.

Hard enough.

By late morning, everyone was sore.

Nobody cared.

They collapsed around the remains of the fire with water, bruises, and the comfortable exhaustion of people who had spent several hours discovering that all of them had become considerably more irritating to fight.

Mara remained upright.

Naturally.

She opened the ledger.

"Final results."

Nyx groaned.

"There are final results?"

"There are always final results."

Mara cleared her throat.

"Most improved."

She paused.

"Everyone."

Valerica frowned.

"That defeats the point."

"I know. It’s deeply inconvenient."

Mara continued.

"Best use of new rank: Valerica, for winning an argument during combat."

Valerica nodded.

"Reasonable."

"Worst sport: Ashe."

Ashe sat up.

"What?"

"For insisting this counted as rest."

"It did."

Isole looked at the bruise forming on her forearm.

"The rest of us got hit."

"You’re welcome."

Mara continued over them.

"Most likely to secretly enjoy losing on purpose: Nyx."

Nyx looked scandalized.

"That is slander with extra steps."

"Observation with supporting evidence."

"You don’t have supporting evidence."

Mara turned the ledger around.

There were several lines.

Nyx stared.

"You’ve prepared a case."

"Yes."

"This is becoming dangerous."

"Finally," Ashe said. "Something fun."

Mara snapped the ledger shut.

Vane leaned back against his pack.

The sun was warm.

The coast remained quiet.

No alarms.

No wounded arriving from the road.

No settlement waiting to be moved before nightfall.

Just the six of them, bruised and laughing after a morning where strength had been something they were allowed to test without needing it desperately.

For once, nobody’s growth had to save anyone.

They got to discover it simply because they had time.

Vane decided he liked that version better.